


A Long Week

by stitchlikespopcorn



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Chicken Pox, F/M, M/M, Sick Character, Sick Narita Kazuhito, Sick Sawamura Daichi, Sick Sugawara Koushi, Sick Tsukishima Kei, Sickfic, character whump, please forgive the author for this, please get vaccinated, sorry for whumping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:07:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29301642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stitchlikespopcorn/pseuds/stitchlikespopcorn
Summary: The chance of catching an illness that you're vaccinated against is minimal, but never zero...(the story in which I whump on these lovelies; based on the true story of how my sister got chicken pox even though she was vaccinated)
Relationships: Karasuno Volleyball Club/Reader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I truly hate myself for writing this... I am currently writing this as I'm in my Biology of Fungi course, so enjoy my (whump-type) escapism.

The first time you knew that this was going to be a long week was when the bus that was taking you and the team to the training camp got a flat tire. The bus limped to the side of the road and was put in park by Ukai. The team had started this trip right after practice ended earlier that day and they had been on the road for almost three hours. It was almost midnight and almost everyone on the bus was asleep, save for you, doing homework and Asahi, who had been feeling too motion sick to sleep. It took a while for the roadside assistance to come and help, and was mostly uneventful, however you and Asahi had to go wake everyone up because there couldn't be any extra weight when the repairman was changing the tire. "This sucks," Noya huffed as he walked off the bus to meet up with the rest of you on the grass next to the bus.

"Just when I was getting some good sleep too!" He stretched his arms above his head, revealing his stomach. The team had started talking amongst themselves, and you found yourself in a conversation with Kiyoko and Yachi who were asking about your anatomy course that you were taking outside of school for a university credit. You had agreed to be one of the managers for the Karasuno volleyball team with most of your position consisting of being the team nurse instead of an actual 'manager'. You could hear Noya complaining loudly about how his joints had been hurting a lot more today than they usually did followed by Suga teasing him for Rolling Thunder most likely causing his joint issues. Within the hour, you were all back on the bus and headed towards the training camp. Once you arrived, you all quickly unpacked and went to bed, all of you drained from the long ride.

\---

The second time your intuition spiked with worriedness was when Daichi woke up with what he thought was a large pimple just above his top lip. You had been walking past the boys bathroom when you heard the commotion about the "giant mountain on Daichi's lip, like what the hell dude" in the words of Tanaka. You knocked on the door and the noises in the bathroom went silent.

"I have a bandaid so that it doesn't get irritated, if you want." you offered to Daichi through the door.

"Uh… yeah, actually that'd be great, thanks!" he chimed from the other side. You reached into your pocket and pulled out a couple of bandaids and handed them to Daichi as he opened the door to the bathroom slightly. The pimple that had made its way to his face looked angry and you looked up at him with a sad smile, as if to say 'sorry everyone is teasing you for a regular thing that bodies do'. Your hands briefly touched and you could feel the heat radiate off of Daichi's hand. That puzzled you slightly. Was it because he was sick? Embarrassed? Just had a higher body temperature? After the door closed, you could hear Tanaka continue the tirade about how Mount Kilimanjaro had made its new home on Daichi's face as you walked away, attempting to shake the feeling of unease that had made its way into the back of your head.

As you were walking away, a tall figure bumped into you, almost knocking you down. You looked up to see Yamaguchi, who almost looked dead on his feet.

"Yama… Yamaguchi-san are you okay?" you asked as you took a step back to look at him. His face was paler than usual, his eyes just seem to sink into his head.

"Oh!" he seemed startled. "I'm sorry Y/N-san, I didn't see you there." he chuckled softly, rubbing his hand on the back of his head.

"It's okay, Yamaguchi-san. Are you feeling okay? You aren't looking too hot." Yamaguchi laughed even harder at your concern.

"Yeah, Y/N-san! I'm fine! I woke up late and haven't had time to fully wake up my brain or my body, so I'm a little worse for wear right now! I'll be okay later in the day, though!" You looked him dead in the eyes to try and catch a hint of whether he was lying or not. You could feel the sincerity in his voice and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, making a mental note to check on him later in the day. Something was happening and you couldn't quite put your finger on it.

\---

When Narita asked you just before a game to help scratch an itch on his back that he just couldn't seem to get, you knew that this was the straw to break the camel's back; the feeling of impending doom that seemed to fill the air just above you came crashing down. As you were half listening, trying to replenish the supplies in the first aid kit, and taking note of what else was needed, Narita told you that he had been trying to get it for what felt like forever and even when he scratched at the spot it wouldn't stop. It was then that something clicked in your brain. You looked at the boy who seemed agitated with the amount of discomfort he was in.

"Narita, this is gonna seem like an odd request, but I need you to lift your shirt so I can see your back." You said with a calm tone, hoping and praying to the gods that you were so very wrong. You guided Narita to a chair that was in the room, hoping that he would get the message that you were indeed lacking height to see what was on his back.

"Uh, sure. Why?" He asked as he started shrugging off his track jacket.

"Just… please," you hesitated. "I need to prove myself wrong." Narita gave a somewhat dissatisfied grunt and turned around as he pulled his shirt over his head to reveal his back. Your heart sank to your stomach. The portion of Narita's back from the middle of his left shoulder blade to the beginning of the right was spotted in small red dots, some larger than others. There were also several dots on his arms and extending down the back of his torso. The sites were discoloured and irritated from Narita's many successful attempts to scratch the spots to no avail. The body heat that had been semi-trapped by the shirt was now radiating off of his body and was too high for you to be comfortable leaving it be.

 _Chicken pox,_ you thought. _Of course it had to be chicken pox._

"Narita, have you been feeling a little lethargic lately?" You asked as you examined the red bumps on his back.

"Was it that obvious?" Narita sighed. "I thought I was hiding it decently well, not even Ennoshita noticed and he notices everything." You turned back to the first aid kit that you had left on the floor and grabbed the bottle of calamine lotion that you had just accounted for, making a mental note to get more. A lot more. You turned back to Narita's back and you swear there were more bumps than before.

"Narita, love," you started as you went around to meet him face to face as he started to put his shirt back on. You crouched down awkwardly to meet his eye level, taking a deep breath. "So it's, uh, it's chicken pox." You said, your voice full of sympathy. You knew that the second year really wanted to play and this training camp had been on everyone's minds for weeks. Narita quietly cursed under his breath. "So, here's what's going to happen. I've got calamine you can put on your back," You continued as you showed him the bottle. "and then you're going to go grab your futon from the Karasuno room as well as your belongings and bring them here. I've got to tell Ukai and Takeda, and you need rest. I'll be back in 10 minutes, you better be at least attempting to sleep by then." You handed the bottle to Narita and booked it to the gym as fast as you could.

The gym was loud and filled with so much humidity from all the active bodies, one could have mistaken it for the rainforest. You opened the doors a little too forcefully and scanned the gym for the dyed hair of the coach and the lanky form of the teacher advisor, sighing in relief when you found them on the sidelines of a court across the gym, a little too focused on the practice match at hand. You sped walked to the practice match, being careful to dodge bodies and balls flying from every direction. You walked up beside Takeda and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Takeda-sensei, we need to talk about Narita," you started. The teacher's eyes grew wide in concern about the student player and he followed you to a less distracting part of the gym.

"What happened?" he asked, trying to keep a collected aura about him.

"Sensei, I think that Narita has chicken pox." you explained to Takeda about how Narita had been feeling sore and achy for a few days, and admitted to feeling lethargic, as well as the red bumps on his back. The teacher's face contorted to that of a thinker, trying to offer up solutions to the problem at hand. You took a deep breath and continued.

"I also wanted to check Daichi-senpai, Noya-san and Yamaguchi-kun, just in case." you put emphasis on the last few words, once again praying that your intuition was wrong. Takeda looked at you curiously as you explained to him that Noya had been complaining of sore muscles on the bus when you all had to wait for roadside assistance, and that Daichi got a suspicious looking pimple this morning. After explaining your hypothesis, you thought that Takeda had thought you were losing it.

"Did you want to monitor them on court for a bit to see if you can spot anything?" Takeda-sensei asked you, to try and ease your fear for the health of the boys, quickly adding after. "Pun not intended." you nodded your head in affirmation and followed Takeda-sensei back to the benches where the team had huddled up during their timeout.

You busied yourself as you filled with items in the first aid kit that had been brought to the bench, using your peripheral vision to heavily observe your potentially sick targets. As you released and rewound an already perfect tensor bandage, you noticed out of the corner of your eye that Noya had been absent-mindedly scratching at his leg for a while as Ukai strategized with the team. Once the team broke off after Ukai's speech to grab their water bottles, you noticed that Daichi had crossed his arms and was subconsciously scratching at his side while he talked with Suga and Asahi. Almost immediately after he finished with his side, he had moved the same hand to his shoulder and was absent-mindedly scratching there.

 _Daichi and Noya definitely had it,_ you accepted with a groan.

Your gaze turned to Yamaguchi who didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest, even though he had appeared really sluggish and out of it this morning. He was stretching out his back before they returned to play, talking with Tsukishima about the strategies that Ukai had brought up, Tsukishima mindlessly rubbing the back of his neck. You turned to Takeda, tapping him on the shoulder again, this time your emotions effortlessly making their way across your face.

"I'll be in the infirmary with Narita-san, can you send Daichi-senpai and Noya-san when they're done?" You asked. Takeda nodded and turned to Ukai to explain the situation as the boys returned to the court to finish out the set. You took once last glance at the team as you headed to the door. Daichi was so focused on the game it was almost scary, but there was a twinge of the muscle at the corner of his mouth, indicating that he was trying to ignore the uncomfortableness that he was experiencing. Noya was squatted in the middle of the back row, one arm out ready for the game, one arm on his chest in a scratching motion.

Once you had gotten back to the entrance of the infirmary, you could already see Narita making good use of whatever had been left of the calamine. Bright pink spots were sparse all around his body, but they were _All. Around. His. Body_. You cursed silently as you walked into the room, trying to give Narita space to finish up. You had asked Narita to help grab Daichi and Noya's belongings and bring them down before he took a nap, and the movement of the futons passed like clockwork. After, you helped Narita get settled, taking his temperature (which was already at 38.3°C) and didn't have to tell him twice to take a nap. The room that you were dubbing the infirmary was a smaller classroom with an office attached that allowed you to be separated from the boys, but still be in the vicinity should they need any help.

You had spread out your homework on one of the free tables that were in the room and worked on your anatomy homework, when there was a knock at the door. Narita didn't so much as stir at the noise as you pushed your chair out and answered the door. Takeda was standing the closest to the door, and behind him were Daichi looking visibly uncomfortable and Noya, who's hands were fumbling with each other, most likely as a distraction for his own sanity. You opened the door wider, revealing Narita napping behind you as well as all of their belongings, and ushered them in. You gave them the rest of the bottle of calamine and told them to be quiet, for Narita's sake and left the room, so they could change into their pyjamas. As you left, you grabbed the dark blue notebook that was sitting beside your homework. You had made notes in your medical book that you kept for the team, something that had kept records of injuries, illnesses, anything that could be useful for later down the road and made your way to Takeda.

"All of them had gotten their initial vaccine," you stated as you flipped through the pages with their notes. "I think Yamaguchi-san might be fighting it off, but he was telling me last month that his younger cousin had contracted it, so his mom made him and his siblings go get booster shots."

"I didn't know boosters were a thing for chicken pox." Takeda-sensei replied.

"Yeah, I had to get one because my younger sister got it a few years back." you hummed in response.

"So you're probably the best person to sit with them, then." Takeda asked, as more of an order to you rather than asking for your opinion.

"Yeah," you said as you released the breath you didn't realize you had been holding. "I'll let you know if anything changes, Takeda-sensei." you told the teacher as you walked back into the room, looking at the teacher as he nodded in agreement, presumably walking back to the volleyball game to update Ukai on the status of the quarter of his team that had been incapacitated.

\---

That evening was hectic, to say the least and it past by in a blur. Hinata had almost broken down the door to the infirmary when he had learned what had happened to his teammates and had to be held back in a bear hug, courtesy of Tanaka. Suga and Asahi came to check on Daichi and the other two before they went to bed. Ennoshita and Kinnoshita came by just after the third years did to check on Noya and Narita. Word had gotten around that shit was going down for the Karasuno team and you had other players from other teams attempting to poke their nose in to confirm the rumours. A couple of the other managers from different teams had stopped by with food for both yourself and the boys, as well as many bottles of calamine lotion, and a couple of boardgames so that they could keep themselves entertained, with Kiyoko and Yachi finally stopping by with your belongings from the Manager's room as well as a break for your sanity. You had moved out to the hall to talk with Kiyoko and Yachi, the other two managers on the other side of the hallway while you took a seat on the ground by the door to the infirmary.

"Chicken pox, huh." Kiyoko said as she huffed, landing on the ground with a thud. "That's new."

"Yeah, I thought that we couldn't go to school if we were vaccinated." Yachi chimed in, looking at you and Kiyoko for assurance.

"You're right, Yachi-san." you confirmed. "Sometimes, when you're run down, overworked and your immune system is down, the vaccines we got years and years ago don't do their job properly." Kiyoko nodded in agreement.

"So, they're not gonna be too sick?" Yachi asked, hoping that her friends and teammates would be feeling better soon.

"It should hopefully only be a couple days, a week at most." Kiyoko added.

"A WEEK!?" Yachi almost yelled, eyes wide. "Oh, they're going to hate that." All you could do was nod.

The quiet knock on the door at 2:30 AM almost gave you a heart attack and was enough to wake up Daichi, who was now sitting straight up on his futon. You mentally cussed out whoever decided that diseases and illnesses had to be a thing as you stood up, adjusted your pyjamas and went to get the door.

"Go back to sleep, Dai-san." you whispered. He elected to ignore you and stood up as you opened the door. "Daichi-san, please." You whispered harsher, pointing to where the captain was standing. "You're just going to make it worse for yourself." He muttered something you couldn't quite make out as you twisted the door handle and slid outside of the infirmary. You quietly closed the door and looked up to the figure that had woken you from your sleep. The figure moved and you realized that it was actually two people, not one person. You blinked hard to adjust your eyes to the light. "Tsukki? Suga?" you called out.

"Hi, Y/N-san," Suga greeted quietly. "We, uh, we wanted you to check us out, cuz I've been feeling all achy and Tsukki has a couple spots on him. It didn't get bad enough til now."

Your palm smacked your forehead before you had time to register. "How run down are you guys?" you muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

You quietly snuck back into the infirmary and came back with everything you needed for Tsukki and Suga. You send both of them to the bathroom to check for any form of rash, asking for Tsukki to check if there are any more than before. Once they got back, Tsukki looked more drained than when the two had arrived.

"More?" you asked, only managing to get out one syllable words while you waited for your brain to become more alert in the situation, pinching the bridge of your nose to help relieve the oncoming headache. He nodded as you handed him one of the newer bottles of calamine and sent him back to the bathroom.

"And you, Suga-senpai?" you asked, motioning to his body with your hand.

"I found a few," he said, his face sullen by the new information. Once Tsukki came back from the washroom with a few visible spots of bright pink, you instructed both him and Suga to get their belongings and bring them to the room.

"How… just, how. That's all I want to know. How, did almost HALF of the Karasuno team get KO'ed by a VIRUS that they've been IMMUNIZED FOR." You chastised the air instead of the boys as you walked back into the infirmary. When you opened the door, Daichi was still awake and more alert than before, sitting cross -legged on his futon. You continued to ream out the team to yourself, and Daichi cleared his throat. You turned to look at him.

"I have that answer, actually…" Daichi started. "You remember the last couple weeks when the school got hit with that crazy stomach bug?" You nodded in understanding. Daichi was talking about the same stomach bug that had caused you to be bedridden for almost an entire week. "It hit the team pretty hard too, most of us were crazy sick for like 2-3 days." You knew this, why was Daichi giving you information that you already knew?

"And…"

"And Hinata was the last of us to get sick, meaning that his immune system had less time to recover."

"What does this have to do with the fact that I now have 5 sick people to deal with?"

"Hinata was saying that Natsu had just gotten over the chicken pox the day before we left for the training camp." You came to the realization faster than it took Daichi to blink.

"So Hinata inadvertently spread it to you guys, who were already had weakened immune systems and … oh my god." How did you not see it sooner? You cursed under your breath, berating yourself for your lack of abilities as the team nurse.

"In all honesty, I just put two and two together myself," Daichi said in an attempt to make you feel less awful about yourself. "And you didn't even know that Natsu was sick. When it came up, it didn't seem like something worth mentioning."

You sighed out of sheer befuddlement for the circumstances. There was no changing the past so you were just going to have to hope for a better future outcome. You added checking on Hinata's health to your mental checklist for tomorrow's events.

As if on cue, Suga opened the door to the infirmary, letting the light of the hallway spill into the room.

"Suga, you too?" Daichi asked slightly amused.

"And Tsukki." Suga chimed.

"And Tsukki." You confirmed.

The newer additions to the room tried their best to not wake up the other two that were sleeping. You and Daichi assisted Suga and Tsukki set up their futons and you handed them the same calamine bottle that Tsukki had used earlier.

"If you need it, okay?" You offered.

"Sounds like a plan." Suga stated. The taller of the two newcomers had already buried himself in his futon and was trying to sleep. Seeing that you figured you should do the same, figuring you would need all the sleep you could get before crap hit the metaphorical fan tomorrow.

\---

You woke with a start at 6:29 AM, one minute before your alarm sounded. _That was all a dream, right?_ You hoped to yourself as you stood up, fixed the blankets on your borrowed futon and grabbed your toiletries. As you opened the door that separated your room from the larger room, reality hit. It wasn't a dream and you loathed the way the human body worked sometimes. You did what you needed to do, brushing your teeth, getting changed into clothing for the day, getting copious amounts of tea bags, several mugs and an electric kettle, as well as managing to grab a couple bottles of hand sanitizer so you could still interact with the outside world. When you arrived back in the room, you noticed that Noya was the first one up. He was making his futon and changing into running gear, acting as if everything was normal.

"Where do you think you're going?" your whisper a bit too harsh, causing Tsukki to stir.

"For a run, where else?" Noya said as if it was obvious.

"And who said running while you were sick was a good idea, Noya-san?" You asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

"I did!" he said, trying to sass you in an attempt to get his way.

"Noya-san, can you just relax for another 10 minutes and then if you feel like going for your run, I will let you go for your run." you attempted to come to a compromise with the libero.

"Deal, but I'll be running as fast as I can in 10 minutes, Y/N-chan." he said a smile forming on his face.

Three minutes into the 10 minutes that you had bargained for, Noya was complaining of the aches in his joints and the stiffness in his muscles. You gave him a cup of tea to aid in his discomfort as well as a couple fever reducers and told him to go back to bed, because that was probably going to help the most. After another five minutes, Noya was back in his futon, soft snores confirming his tiredness. _And he thought he was going to RUN_ , you said, mentally laughing at the stunt that Noya tried to pull as you got ready to go and help the rest of the managers prep the meals for the day. Since you had little to no way of being a danger to the others who weren't sick (as in it was statistically impossible for you to pass it on to someone else), you were still required to help out with first aid for what was left of the Karasuno team.

The next time you heard a peep from the boys was when they collectively started to stir at about 9:45AM. You had decided it would be a good idea that they sleep in, considering sleeping would be the best way to keep their minds off of everything else. After all of the players had eaten and you had gotten stuck with dish duty, you grabbed the breakfast that you had set aside for the boys and walked back to the infirmary. When you returned, Suga, Daichi and Narita were sitting up and talking in hushed tones, trying to ensure that Tsukki and Noya got all the sleep they needed.

"Hey, breakfast is here when you're feeling up to it," you said as you placed their breakfast on one of the empty tables in the room and gathered the things you would need for the day. The boys' conversation gradually grew louder as Tsukki and Noya both woke up, allowing for the boys to actually get a start to their day (as if they could go anywhere).

"The rest of the team still needs me, so I'll be gone for most of the day, but I need you to record your temperatures in the blue book," you told the boys in a docile tone. "and I'll be popping by periodically to make sure you don't burn the room down." You paused for a second to look at the sea of sick boys that had accumulated within the past 12 hours and gave them a small smile. "I'm sorry that training camp ended up this way, guys." you apologised.

"It's okay," Daichi waved off the apology. "Stuff happens." You could tell that they were all heartbroken over the outcome. You passed the threshold to the room and you could hear Daichi's older brother instincts kick in. "So, what board game are we playing first?"

\---

For the first 10 minutes of warm up drills, the Karasuno team wouldn't leave you alone. You swear that you had at least one of them attached to your body asking for information about the others. You figured that they would too, considering they had lost almost half of their team due to breakthrough chicken pox. Just after warm up drills finished, and the coaches for the host school were announcing who was playing who today, you pulled Asahi and Ennoshita aside.

"Do you have any updates?" Ennoshita asked, hesitant for the response. He was filling in for Daichi as the interim captain in the latter's absence.

"So, it's going to be milder than what is usually presented in people that haven't gotten vaccinated, but it's still going to do a number on them, both physically and emotionally." you told them.

"They're going to be okay, right?" Asahi asked, worriedness intricately laced through his voice causing it to waver slightly.

"Yeah, Asahi-san. They're going to be fine." you assured the gentle giant. The ace was the only third year that had made it through the night unscathed by the virus. He muttered something in response and began to draw something into the palm of his hand with his index finger. "However," you started and dread slowly seeped into your heart.

"However," Ennoshita repeated.

"I do need to ask Hinata-kun some questions."

"Not Hinata-san, too." Asahi groaned at his teammates dropping like flies. Ennoshita and Asahi returned to the team, starting to dwindle in their numbers, and sent Hinata over to you.

"Hey, Y/N-san! Asahi-senpai said you wanted to see me?" He asked, beaming.

"Yeah, Hinata-san. I heard that Natsu-chan had gotten the chicken pox and wanted to see how she was feeling?" you asked, trying to ease into your question. You hated being accusatory and you didn't want to come off as such, especially with someone like Hinata.

"Oh, thanks for asking, Y/N-san! She's feeling much better," Hinata smiled at you.

"And how are you feeling?" You asked Hinata, emphasizing the word 'you'. His smile changed into one that was sitting on a face with a puzzled complexion.

"Me?" Hinata asked, pointing to himself. You nodded. "I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be fine?" He questioned, not really putting two and two together.

"Can I see your back please, Hinata-kun?" He happily obliged, lifting the back of his shirt up revealing nothing to be observed, save for skin and muscle. "Okay, Hinata-san, do you mind if I look at your chest?" you asked, slightly flustered that you had to ask in a room with a large amount of people. Hinata nodded, turning around and lifting up the front of his shirt. You heard a quiet yelp from behind you, turning to see Yachi, her face a little paler than usual and her eyes fixed on Hinata's bare chest. It took everything you had to suppress a chuckle at Yachi's reaction, so you returned your gaze to Hinata's chest. There was nothing there as well. You gave him the okay to put his shirt back down as you sighed with relief. He wasn't showing any symptoms, thank the gods. You dismissed the ginger haired boy and Ennoshita slowly made his way back over to you.

"He's clear." You let a small smile creep onto your lips as you celebrated this small victory.

"That's good," Ennoshita hummed in agreement.

\---

Before you knew it, the managers were being summoned to help with lunch prep. You were left on dish duty again, even though you didn't mind that much. The other managers asked about the Karasuno boys and how they were feeling, you were grateful for their concerns. Once lunch was served to all of the players, you took the several servings that you had set aside for the missing Karasuno boys and walked down the hall to the infirmary. You knocked on the door, hopefully giving them some time to prepare if they weren't decent, you really hoped that they were decent. As you twisted the handle on the door to swing the door open you heard:

"YOU CHEATER! YOU--" the sentence was interrupted by a sneeze. "YOU SET ME UP!"

"I DIDN'T SET YOU UP, TSUKKI DID!"

"And what if I did?" you heard the middle blocker say in response. You pushed the door open wider to see the boys fervently invested in the board game at hand. Most of them had their blankets from their futons wrapped around them to give them some extra warmth.

"Hey, I have your lunch, if you're not too interested in your game." you interjected before the yelling could continue. All five boys looked up at you in surprise, the game had gotten the better of them and they didn't hear you come in.

"Oh, hey Y/N-san!" Suga greeted, his arm rising to his chest to scratch without him noticing it. "Welcome ba-- hey!" your greeting from the boy was cut short by Daichi swatting at his friend's hand.

"Don't scratch, boke." Daichi said, looking his friend straight in the eyes. Suga pouted, matching Daichi's gaze.

"But Dai-san," Suga carried out the last letter in a childish whine, doing the same with his sentence right after. "It's itchy." As if to prove his point, he moved his hand back to get a few more good scratches in before Daichi would stop him again.

"I have ice that you can rub on the spots," you offered to Suga, who huffed in annoyance as you gave him an ice pack. "It'll help, promise." Suga muttered a thanks as he stuck the ice pack under his shirt and sighed quietly for the relief it was giving him. Narita stood up, blanket still wrapped around him, motioning for you to give him a plate so that he could start handing it out to the rest of his sick teammates.

"Thanks for the food, Y/N-san." Narita said as he grabbed the third plate from you, handing it to Tsukki. Narita turned back around and took the fourth and fifth plates from you before setting them by Noya and his own spot. You ate your own meal with the boys, asking how the morning had been, how they were feeling. You examined the logged temperatures that had been written in your book, most likely by Daichi. It was set as a little chart, with everyone's names on one axis of the chart and the time of day on the other axis, with the temperature of each boy at that time written at the intersection. From what you could gather from what was written down, Tsukki and Daichi's fevers were still climbing, with Noya and Suga's plateauing earlier in the morning and Narita's slowly coming down.

You informed the boys that you would be back in a moment, as you brought their dirty dishes from breakfast back to the kitchen and set them aside for you to do during the hour break after lunch. Once you got back to the room, it was as if the mood had shifted entirely. Noya looked defeated while Daichi was trying to cheer him up, and Suga and Narita were wrestling Tsukki's hands away from his back, with Tsukki switching gears and attempting to scratch his back against the wall. You really wished you could take away the pain that they were experiencing, but life wasn't like that.

"If you guys are feeling this crappy, may I suggest a colder-than-normal shower? From what I've heard, it makes it less itchy and it helps with the sticky feeling." you offered the suggestion to the boys. There was a moment of silence before all of the boys shot up and grabbed their toiletries bags. You had never seen people who were sick move so fast in their lives. Clearly it was taking more of a toll on them then you had originally anticipated. In the blink of an eye, the boys were out of the room and headed towards the shower as fast as their bodies could carry them. You took this opportunity to clean up the messes they had made, straightening out the blankets that were still warm, collecting the plates of those who were finished with lunch and rearranging the pieces that had fallen off of the board game. You still had about 20 minutes until it was time for you to be reporting to the volleyball courts, so you decided to leave a note with a checklist for the boys so that they remembered when each of them were allowed to take another acetaminophen as well as ways to distract themselves. As you left the room, you turned the lights off and hoped for a better rest of the day for the boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry that there has to be a part three, i'm kicking myself for bringing this concept into existence.


	3. Chapter 3

The rest of the day seemed to pass by without incident. Karasuno lost most of their games against the other teams, only winning the last two of the afternoon. Early into Karasuno's losing streak, you had managed to guilt-trip Takeda into going into the closest town to get the sick players popsicles to help with the general feeling of malaise that was surrounding them. So now, you were walking back with popsicles in one hand and dinner for the six of you in the other. As you approached the infirmary door, you noticed that the room's occupants were a little too quiet. You hoped they had fallen asleep at some point in the afternoon and as you entered the room, that appeared to be the case. Narita and Suga were sprawled out across their futons, with Noya curled up on his side trying to steal some warmth from Suga. Tsukki appeared to be in the process of falling asleep to a video that was playing on his phone, his headphones sitting slightly lopsided on his head.

Daichi was the only one fully awake, sitting at one of the tables attempting to complete some of the homework that he had brought with him. Once he heard you walk in, he looked up from his papers that scattered the table opposite to yours. His hair was matted to his forehead by sweat, face paled and the several small red dots that had made their home on his face only emphasizing the former fact.

"Hey," you greeted as you set down the bag with food. "How're you feeling?"

"Still as lousy as before," he admitted. "Figured I should try and do some homework if I have the time." that comment caused you to laugh softly in response.

"How are the others?" you gestured to the massive lump of sleeping bodies on the floor beside him.

"They passed out after they took more acetaminophen. That and the cold shower you suggested did wonders for all of us." he said gratefully.

"I'm glad that you're feeling better." you smiled. "I managed to get Takeda-sensei to go into town to grab you guys these." you said as you pulled out the popsicles from the plastic bag. Daichi's eyes lit up.

"I have never been so excited to see those." he replied, getting up from the table he was sat at and making his way over to you. You opened the cardboard box of popsicles and handed him one, stating that you had to go and put the rest in the freezer in the kitchen or else they would all melt. Daichi nodded and went back to continue with his homework until you returned.

Upon your return to the room, you noticed that Daichi was sitting with a popsicle in one hand, head in the other, staring at his homework as if it had murdered his entire family and he was intent on getting justice.

"Not going well, I assume?" you question him as you pull up a seat on the opposite side of his table.

"I keep trying to focus, but it's so hard to concentrate." he accepted, eating the last part of his popsicle.

"That's to be expected after all." you conclude as you shift in your seat. "Do you think that taking a nap would help?"

All you got from Daichi was a hum in agreement as he pressed the heel of his palms into his eyes, trying to relieve some pressure of a headache. Daichi stood up from his chair, leaving his books and papers as they were and groggily walked towards his futon, trying not to step on his teammates. You could hear him groan in pain and frustration as he lowered himself to his futon.

"I know you're team captain and all," you said softly as Daichi was gathering the blankets around him. "But you don't always have to be a caretaker." Daichi looked at you, a puzzled look gracing his face. You walked over to help fix a portion of the blankets he couldn't seem to get just right. "From one oldest sibling to another, you need to let people take care of you sometimes. You did more than your fair share of stuff today, so rest for a bit."

You swore that in a matter of seconds, Daichi's eyes were closed and the soft snoring that rose from his futon confirmed that he had fallen asleep. Since, no one save for yourself was awake, you decided that it would be a good idea to go put their food in the kitchen fridge so that they could have it later. As you opened the door to the infirmary, you were greeted with muffled noise. 

"Tch," you heard come from the main room. There was a figure sitting up in the middle of the room, somewhat hidden by the shadows casted by the setting sun. "Stupid rash, stupid sickness, Hinata boke…" The figure moved one of his hand to his back and you heard the raking of nails on skin continue at a pressing speed. "Stupid … itchy … rash…" you heard the figure mutter the words in between the repetitive motion of his scratching, moving the free hand to what looked like his chest. "Why… isn't … it… stopping?" the voice whispered harshly, groaning in frustration and ramping up his efforts.

"Tsukki?" You called out quietly into the room. The figure stopped moving almost immediately, like a deer in the headlights.

"Y/N-san," Tsukki quickly moved his hands from where they were frozen from getting caught. "I, uh, I didn't know you were here."

"Oh, Tsukki-kun." You whispered to the boy, your voice filled with sympathy and dripping with disappointment. You motioned for the boy to come towards you, and he stood up from his futon, picking up his glasses. You grabbed the newly opened bottle of calamine that had made its home on a desk by the door, some paper towel and a couple instant icepacks. You opened the door to the room as quietly as you could, motioning with your head for Tsukki to follow you outside of the room.

As you both entered the hallway, you noticed the strain on Tsukki's face to try and keep his hands by his side, with him slowly succumbing to the urge to scratch the rash on his chest. You quickly swatted his hand away.

"It's just going to make you feel worse, baka." You mutter to Tsukki, the boy was still half asleep and watching your every movement to determine which itches he could scratch without you noticing. You motioned to the hallway floor as you popped the instant icepack. "Sit." Tsukki huffed in annoyance as he took a seat on the floor, secretly glad that you were handing him an icepack for his chest.

"Shirt off," you ordered, too tired to ask politely and fully waiting for Tsukki to make one of his smart remarks, but they never came. Instead, Tsukki complied, pulling the back of his shirt over his head, revealing the damage that he had done within a matter of minutes. Lines from his fingertips marred his back, red, irritated and raised alongside the red bumps indicative of Tsukki's chickenpox. You ripped off a decently sized piece of paper towel from the roll and dipped it into the calamine bottle, ensuring that you got some of the substance on the paper towel before you went to work, coating portions of Tsukki's back. You worked in silence as Tsukki was rubbing the icepack up and down his chest for reprieve. As you finished on Tsukki's back, you pulled his shirt down and circled around to his front.

"Shirt." You said again, as you motioned for him to lift it up, so you could continue. You worked like that for the next 15 or so minutes.

"Thank you, Y/N-senpai." you heard Tsukki mutter quietly, as you stood up, successfully covering Tsukki's torso in tiny pink dots. You nodded in acknowledgement.

"If you end up scratching at them again, I'm going to have Takeda-sensei to get oven mitts from the dollar store across the street to cover your hands and then tape them on." you half-warned, half-sarcastically prodded at the boy. He smirked at you, giving you a side eye as he walked back into the infirmary with both icepacks being used to provide some sort of reprise from his current state.

When Takeda-sensei came to relieve you of your position for the night, you were more than thankful. You filled him in on what was happening with each of the boys, Takeda nodding with each piece of information, slightly astonished with how detail-oriented you were. You told him about the food for the boys in the fridge if they woke up and wanted food and you retired to the small attached office you had called your room to the larger classroom that was acting as the infirmary. You were able to do some homework and even watch a movie before the boys had started to stir and interact with Takeda-sensei. You were curled up on your futon, watching a movie about super-heroes as you slowly drifted off to sleep.

Just when you thought that things couldn't get worse, they did. Murphy's law loved to metaphorically kick you when you were down didn't it? You had drained your water bottle half an hour before you went to bed, in an attempt to quench the need for water to stave off dehydration, and now you were tripping over yourself to try and find your phone to use its flashlight so you could get to the bathroom. You quietly stumbled out of your small room into the larger room that was temporarily housing just less than half of the Karasuno team. You tried to move as quietly as you could, the popping of your joints making your task infinitely harder. You managed to avoid stepping on flailed limbs and strewn blankets, but almost lost your footing when it came to an unseen pair of one of the boys' pants that caused you to slide spontaneously across the floor. You made a mental note to ream them out in the morning for being slobs. You somehow managed to get to the bathroom in one piece, avoiding all of the aptly dubbed landmines.

As you exited the bathroom, you heard movement coming from the Boy's Bathroom and glanced at your watch. It stared back at you, reading 3:37 am in bold white lettering on a black background. You didn't really think anything of it until you heard your name being called in a harsh whisper.

"Hey, Y/N-san!" you whipped around to see Hinata, orange hair ruffled and sticking up every which way, small dark circles under his eyes.

"Good morning, Hinata-kun." you greeted quietly, trying to rub the sleep out of your eyes so that you could try and focus on what you were hoping would be a relevantly short conversation.

"You know," Hinata started as he reached a hand to rub the back of his neck. "I thought about why you were asking about Natsu earlier today, and why you asked to look at my back and my chest. I didn't give chickenpox to them… did I?" he asked, his voice small, eyes filled with worry.

"Takeda-sensei and I think that may be the case," You offer, although it's not any consolation to the ginger boy.

"How is that even possible? I wasn't sick with it, so how would I be able to pass it on?" he asked, tears brimming at the bottom of his eyes. You didn't fully register it, but Hinata's hand had moved from behind his neck to his chest, making a slow but deliberate clawing motion.

"Science, and bodies, and illnesses are… they're weird sometimes, Hinata-kun." you sighed, running a hand through your hair. You didn't really know how to explain this to Hinata without having to give several biology lessons. "Sometimes stuff… stuff just happens. And we have to live with it." Hinata hummed in acknowledgement.

"Can you tell them that I'm sorry?" Hinata asked.

"Why? They don't blame you at all. And you shouldn't blame yourself. If anything, they think this is some weird freak coincidence." you replied as you turned in the direction of the infirmary. You didn't see Hinata's clawing motion at his chest getting more and more intense.

"Okay," Hinata responded, his voice small and trailing off. "Goodnight, Y/N-san."

"Goodnight, Hinata-kun." You took a few steps before Hinata stopped you again.  
"Uhm, Y/N-san?" he called out.

"Yes, Hinata-kun," you responded a little harshly, all you wanted to do was go back to sleep. You turned around to see Hinata still standing in the same spot that he was before, his one hand on his chest scratching somewhat violently, the other subconsciously migrating to his face to bring some alleviation from the itchiness of the rash that had just become apparent to you. Somehow, Hinata had hidden it well, or you were just too tired to notice. It was then you fully took in how Hinata looked. Small red dots had been scattered all over his arms, legs and his face. His face was paler than usual and he was slightly hunched, giving off the impression that he was uncomfortable and achy.

"I … uh, I think I got Natsu's chickenpox…" he said, his voice trailing off as you made eye contact with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry that there has to be more of this. apparently my brain wants this idea fully fleshed out and i really do not. so there will be a part 4.... fuck my life.


End file.
